Weekly Roundup – Feb 20, 2019

The CloserIQ Weekly Roundup features a list of the best content we’ve been reading recently. We’ve compiled some of our favorite reads to help you advance in your sales career and build top sales teams.

Career + Job Advice

“When you’re starting out, that network can act as a cheat sheet for you. Over time, you learn so much that it becomes more instinctual and you don’t need as much support. But to get to that point, you need to start building your network today. Don’t wait for permission.”

“Sending a follow up note that expresses genuine gratitude speaks to your character! It shows you’re well mannered, thoughtful, and appreciative. Three core characteristics that color who we are through the subtle things we do, or don’t.”

Selling Strategies

“Conventional wisdom for crafting sales prospecting emails is based almost purely on gut instinct. That isn’t a terrible start. Writing is an art, after all. However, adding a little structure in the form of sales email best practices will have a significant impact on email performance.”

“Simply put, scheduling sales meetings can be frustrating and a waste of time. This is why you need to set some rules for your sales meetings and start leveraging automation in order to get more done.”

Hiring + Recruiting

“Sales is tough. Folks that have consistently made it 2+ years, and especially 3+ year stints, are often the ones you want. You can’t expect every sales position to work out. Short stints are an issue for any role, of course. But the lack of them is even more unusual in sales.”

“Jordan Wan, founder and CEO of CloserIQ, agrees with Gernaey: Assigning a point-person to guide applicants through the process can limit the chance of getting ghosted, he says. He suggests appointing a guide who is not the hiring manager, and he explains that “the guide is responsible for keeping tabs on the candidate’s experience with regular check-ins.””

Managing Teams

“With so much data and so many sources, the challenge for sales enablement teams is to pull it all together. With a comprehensive view of each sales rep, it’s possible to figure out what’s working and what isn’t. In the absence of a single view, it’s difficult to find any signals in the noise.”

“The sales process is never a set it and forget it. You need to constantly validate that it is working to reduce the time it takes to close a deal and assess gaps in the process. It is important to get direct feedback from your reps on where they are facing challenges in the sales process.”

Essential Tech Reads

“In any event, the urban landscape of the U.S. is being radically reshaped by technology companies — creating cities that are haves and have-nots much as technology has bifurcated the national economy into digital haves and have nots.”

“Now, many of the up-and-coming start-ups that may become the next unicorns have names like Benchling and Blend. And they largely focus on software for specific industries like farms, banks and life sciences companies.”